Soggy Shoppers

Yeah, I know it's springtime in the Northeast, but will it ever stop raining ? I believe this makes Day 7 of consecutive rainy days.

Less determined bargain shoppers and those who prefer to be sensible and dry would be content to stay in on a wet day like today. Not my family ! My mom joined me and and my mother-in-law and we hit some garage sales ! Our thought was that we would load up the deals as the rain would be plenty enough to deter others from infringing on our target sales. We were surprised to see how many others braved the 55 degree day in the drizzling rain to get some deals. The three of us had a great time bargaining for our treasures ! I have to admit that I was impressed that my mother-in-law conceded in our shopping addiction as she powered along and helped navigate to the next sale.

The best find of the day was for Elaina, of course. On one of our first sales, I found a Little Tykes play yard / house perfect for our girl. The only problem was the fact that it filled my mom's trunk immediately. Luckily, we weren't to far from home and made a pit stop after Round 1 of our sale shopping. Better yet, Elaina loves her new plastic neighborhood ! Eric cleaned it up and helped her to "move in." She must have crawled and walked in and out of the front door of her house at least 60 times - shutting the door behind her every last time ! How funny ! This provided nearly 20 minutes of uninterrupted fun for the new homeowner !

Later in the afternoon, we met Aunt Cindy for a late "Mother's- Day- lunch." Elaina stayed home with her dad on this particular girls' day out. (We missed you Elaina !) It wouldn't have been fair to her to drag her around in the cold, wet weather when she would surely have a better time playing with dad and grandpa at home.

Our evening was spent at Eric's brother and sister-in-laws house choosing a monument for Ava. I feel so bad that an entire year has gone by and we haven't yet memorialized her grave. It's not because I haven't wanted to do it, it's just that I have wanted it to be absolutely perfect that I didn't know where to begin. Since Tim and Terri own a monument business and Terri is every bit of an artist, we all sat around the kitchen table and shared ideas and sketched the perfect memorial for our perfect angel. I am pleased with the result and feel that we have done our best.

Mother's Day has seemed to hit hard for me over the past 3 years. Three years ago, I spent my first Mother's Day with Tim and Terri sobbing over having to choose Ella's monument. That was a horrible, emotional pain. Piercing pain. I vowed that the following year would be different. It was. That year we were still trying to get pregnant without any success. Still, I thought, "just wait until next year, that would be the best of all." The following year brought Ava into our lives, only to have her become an angel the day before Mother's Day.

This year leaves me with very bittersweet emotions. Again, I find it painfully ironic that we are faced with having to memorialize our daughter - one more time. Oh... and it doesn't get any easier. Not even after a year. The thing that is cause for the bigger celebration is that Elaina will be baptized tomorrow. That's plenty enough to overshadow my grief and make my heart happy.